Fuck 4: The Big Fuckowski

WE'RE ALIVE!

I have absolutely no idea how considering all the shit that transpired, but we're kicking. Yes, all of us.

I don't know how long it's been in here, when everything looks the same it's kind of impossible to tell the passage of time, hell I'm not sure if time even passes here, or if it just stands still. I'm more worried about the supposed time difference between here and our world, I hope it's not 20XX out there by the time we get out, I don't want to be in a Megaman timeline.

So, Father Garrick is an... interesting person. We've been staying in his makeshift fortress for quite some time now. Malik keeps insisting that we keep on moving, that it's not safe to stay with a "religious lunatic" but it's obvious why he is so restless and eager to leave, although he will never admit to it, he wants to find Franky. We've been having regular arguments about our next steps, I for one think it's an idiotic idea to wander around blindly this hellhole, aimlessly looking for an exit, or Franky. He thinks otherwise and keeps insisting that he knows what he is doing, that he is far more experienced in navigating The Path and that I don't know what I'm talking about. It's been quite a regular back and forth, and I really don't want to talk about it any further because I get enough of it every 2 hours or so.

So let's talk about Father Garrick, despite what Malik says about him, one fact rings true, the entire time we've been here, we've been relatively safe, dude fortified his makeshift fortress really well. It's like he has a neverending supply of booby traps surrounding the place and every few hours I can hear the whispers of Denizens get louder, meaning that they're getting closer, then an explosion in the distance, or a large thump, or just a shriek from said Denizens erupts in the distance, and suddenly the whispers fade.

Food-wise, we're not doing so great, truth be told I haven't felt hungry since the moment I fell in here, which according to Malik is normal, apparently feelings of hunger, fatigue and exhaustion set in slowly in here, but when they do, they do so suddenly and at the same time, so yeah, not looking forward to that. But it seems like Father Garrick's been here long enough for all of that to take it's toll on him, his solution? He cooks and eats the limbs of Denizens he kills, even offered us some, we politely turned down his kind offer, who knows what kind of hell the meat of a Denizen can do to your stomach, no thank you.

As for Father Garrick himself... I don't like to speak rudely of the man that saved us and was so generous to house us, but a bit of what Malik says about him is true, he really is a bit of a religious fanatic. He regularly cites various passages from the bible whether he is engaged in a casual conversation, or if he is busy blowing the Denizen's heads off with his rifle. Apart from that he comes off as a fairly normal person, but also does tend to talk to himself, quoting various passages from the bible, sometimes even just randomly cackling to himself. 

I offered to him to join us in finding a way out, but to my surprise he declined. He believes that he was sent here for a reason, to be God's instrument against the various Demons that inhabit this hell, yeah, he actually believes that he is within Hell itself. But there's a reason for his mental deterioration, apart from the fact that he's been trapped here for God knows how long, originally he wasn't here alone. He had a group of his own, all kids compared to him and apparently, traveled and survived together, until one of their members turned on them and sabotaged the group from the inside. When he was telling us all of this, I could see Malik tense up, it was obvious why. But yeah, betrayed by one of their own, some members of his group were killed off in the confusion, the rest along with him were chased down into The Path, where he's been ever since. During their first days within The Path, not only did they have the misfortune of learning about the nature of The Path and trying to adapt to it, but were also actively being hunted down not only by the Denizens, but also by the Proxy group that was after them, including the traitor. Through this endless game of cat and mouse, little by little Father Garrick would lose every member of his group, so you can imagine the level of grief and trauma he had to go through.

He says that he long since took care of the Proxy group that robbed him of his Family (His runner group), even managing to kill the betrayer in the process, whom he claims he has forgiven long before he took his life. At this Malik would explode at him, calling him a naive idiot, I tried my best to calm him down because insulting a guy who is already a little unstable is not the greatest idea, not to mention super fucking rude considering he is sharing his safe house with us. But luckily Father Garrick didn't take offense, instead proclaiming that he feels pity for Malik and that he has a great deal of his personal demons to confront before passing judgment onto anyone else. Malik would just storm off, I tried to follow him but he would tell me to fuck off.

That was quite a bit ago, but the effects of that conversation are still here, Malik hasn't been as argumentative for a while.

But I can't really complain, gives me some peace and quiet, tried talking to him about what clearly bothered him in that conversation, but I'm sure you can predict his reaction to me trying to reach out.

So yeah... not much else to say, honestly I just can't wait to get out of here, place still creeps me the fuck out.